by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(May 12, 2008) Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann has issued a public directive to pro-abortion Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius asking her to refrain from receiving Holy Communion until she has taken “the necessary steps for amendment of her life.”
In the April 21 issue of The Leaven, the newspaper for the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Archbishop Naumann explains: “I wrote the governor last August requesting that she refrain from presenting herself for reception of the Eucharist until she had acknowledged the error of her past positions, made a worthy sacramental confession and taken the necessary steps for amendment of her life which would include a public repudiation of her previous efforts and actions in support of laws and policies sanctioning abortion. . .
“Recently, it came to my attention that the governor had received holy Communion at one of our parishes. I have written to her again, asking her to respect my previous request and not require from me any additional pastoral actions.”
Governor Sebelius has been an avid abortion supporter, often vetoing legislation that would have brought much needed reforms to the state’s notoriously sub-standard abortion business, including legislation that would have required clinics to be inspected. She recently vetoed the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act which would have strengthened restrictions on second- and third-term abortions in a state known as the “late-term abortion capital of America” and the home of the infamous abortionist George Tiller, from whom Sebelius has been known to receive large campaign contributions.
Archbishop Naumann informed the public that he had met with the Governor several times to discuss the grave spiritual and moral consequences of her public actions.
“My concern has been, as a pastor, both for the spiritual well-being of the governor but also for those who have been misled (scandalized) by her very public support for legalized abortion,” he wrote. “The spiritually lethal message, communicated by our governor, as well as many other high profile Catholics in public life, has been in effect: ‘The church’s teaching on abortion is optional!’”
After issuing a call for prayer for the governor, Archbishop Naumann concludes: “I hope that my request of the governor, not to present herself for holy Communion, will provoke her to reconsider the serious spiritual and moral consequences of her past and present actions. At the same time, I pray this pastoral action on my part will help alert other Catholics to the moral gravity of participating in and/or cooperating with the performance of abortions.”
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